OfficeMax survey exposes some dirty business in the workplace.

 

Office workers who “fake” washing their hands are risking the health of their co-workers and contributing to a loss of productivity in the workplace.

 

OfficeMax New Zealand has put the spotlight on office hygiene in a new report to mark this month's Global Handwashing Day.

 

OfficeMax’s hand hygiene survey found that 42 per cent of office workers have witnessed a colleague leave the bathroom without washing or drying their hands.

 

The survey also found that a third of office workers have noticed colleagues not drying their hands after washing (33 per cent) or washing hands without the use of soap (31 per cent).  

 

Hazel Wright, care sector lead at OfficeMax, said the phenomenon of “social handwashing” could be contributing to improper handwashing. 

 

Social handwashing is the practice of wanting to appear to wash your hands without actually doing it. 

 

“It’s rare, but in some cases, people can go to extreme lengths to appear to wash their hands; running the tap, rustling paper towels, or triggering the hand drier with no real intention of using the facilities as they were designed,” Wright  said.

 

For businesses, effective hand hygiene practices can significantly reduce the spread of infectious diseases, leading to fewer employee sick days and increased productivity; however, the idea of “calling out” the poor hygiene practices of colleagues is not something Kiwis feel confident doing.

 

While most respondents (46 per cent ) said they always had the supplies necessary to support proper bathroom hygiene at work, there are exceptions: